A former Kansas State baseball star is headed back to the Sunflower State. 

Kaelen Culpepper, a former Wildcat standout short stop who helped lead the K-State to a Super Regional berth at the end of the 2024 season, is being promoted to the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge after spending the season at High-A Cedar Rapids in Iowa. Both are minor league teams in the Minnesota Twins organization. 

Culpepper slashed .293/.385/.479 in 54 games for the Kernals, helping Cedar Rapids earn a playoff spot by clinching the Midwest League West Division’s first-half title.

Culpepper’s .293 batting average ranked seventh in the league. He tied for fourth in home runs with nine, ranks fifth in the league with 103 total bases, rank eighth in slugging percentage (.479) and hits (63) and ninth in OPS (.864).

He also pulled off a rarely seen feat at any level of baseball while playing for the Cedar Rapids earlier this month. On June 5, Culpepper hit lead-off home runs in both games of a doubleheader, something that’s only been done at the Major League level four times. 

As a junior for K-State, Culpepper was named a second team All-American by D1Baseball, second team all-Central Region by ABCA/Rawlings and All-Big 12 Second Team.

During his final season in Manhattan, he was one of the Big 12’s top offensive producers, ranking fifth in RBIs (59) and sixth in hits (80), while leading in triples (6).

Additionally, he hit 15 doubles and a career-best 11 home runs to go with his team-high .328 batting average and .574 slugging percentage, while he was one of three Wildcats to start in all 61 games.

Culpepper turned in 23 games with two or more hits to pace the offense, while he turned in 13 games with multiple RBI and finished with a 10-game hitting streak.

In the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Fayetteville Regional MVP hit .474 (9-for-19) with three doubles, one triple and two home runs for an incredible 1.575 OPS while driving in a team-leading 10 RBI.

Culpepper became the fourth player in K-State history to hit for the cycle after leading Cats to a 19-4 triumph over No. 2 seed Louisiana Tech in the Fayetteville Regional. 

The three-time All-Big 12 selection finished his Wildcat career slashing .314/.402/.531 with 32 doubles, six triples, 26 home runs and 122 runs batted in. His 26 career home runs ranks 10th all-time in school history.

He is one of two Wildcats in school history to be drafted in the first round after the Twins picked him up 21st overall last summer.